A black suitcase, tube, and display unit are the proposed alternative to a complex laboratory setup
A black suitcase, tube, and display unit are the proposed alternative to a complex laboratory setup. A black suitcase, tube, and display unit are the proposed alternative to a complex laboratory setup.
Refueling at an unverified gas station is another reason for excitement. How to understand what kind of fuel you are buying? There is no particular trust in the quality passport, and more - no guarantees.
There are many criteria for the quality of gasoline, but its most important parameter is the octane number. It is the insufficient knock resistance that it characterizes that adversely affects power, fuel consumption, and, most importantly, the resource and reliability of the engine. The real method that can give rise to a claim to a gas station in court is standard tests at a laboratory unit UIT-65 or UIT-85. But it’s hard for an ordinary motorist to do it - you need to correctly take a sample, and even in the presence of a commission, which must include a gas station employee, give it to an accredited laboratory (these are also not on every corner) and wait for the results. Not easy, long and expensive! In addition, it is ineffective - it would be nice to catch unusable fuel before refueling, and not after.
But, as it turned out, there are still several devices for preliminary quality control of gasoline. Digatron is known to water motors, there are still special octanometers, but they are all very expensive - they are inaccessible to the ordinary consumer. Therefore, we decided to test the “OKTIS-2 Gasoline Quality Indicator” made in Vladimir. The price is about 3500 rubles.
The problem with the verification arose immediately, but not technical … At the first gas station, when we tried to jam the device on the gun before the eyes of the guards, the employees simply asked - what are we doing? On the second sent to the authorities. But the third had to carry away the legs, so the guard was out of sorts. But the most offensive - although the device showed something, it was unclear whether to believe it or not? We, after all, are experts - we had to “surrender” to the laboratory. We again visited several branded gas stations, bought 92nd, 95th and 98th gasolines and gave them to people in white coats - let octane be measured by all means, as well as a density that indirectly reflects the composition of the fuel.
Why are these difficulties? Then, that the principle of operation of the device is based on measuring the dielectric constant of the fuel, which greatly depends on its chemical composition, production technology and a set of additives. To understand how sensitive the device is to the first factor, three groups of fuel were specially selected: “heavy”, with an aromatic content of 42%; “Average” (34%); “Light”, in which aromatics was about 30%, but a lot of oxygenates. The device was calibrated using “average” fuel, the comparison results are in the table at the bottom of the article.
Is this an attraction of unprecedented generosity? No, just a bootlegger
Is this an attraction of unprecedented generosity? No, just a bootlegger! Is this an attraction of unprecedented generosity? No, just a bootlegger!
The error for 92nd gasolines was about 2%, for 95th - about 1%. This is enough to distinguish high-quality gasoline from overt knockers in terms of detonation resistance. But with 80 gasolines, OCTIS issued as many as 93.9 octane units. UIT, on the other hand, gave much more real values - OCHI 81.3, and OCHM - 79.4! This usually gives gasoline, which has something bad in its composition, most often methanol. This is understandable: refineries are already curtailing production of the 80th, and it is becoming a deficit. Therefore, running into an explicit self-propelled gun is as easy as shelling pears. What happened to us!
In a word, here is our opinion. It is possible to trust OCTIS, and its testimony should be treated as follows: if, for example, it shows 90.5 or 93.4 on 92nd gasoline, you can take such fuel. We do not have an exact installation, but an indicator: what can, then it shows. But if the readings of the device deviate from the expected numbers by a dozen or two units, at least in the direction of decreasing, at least increasing, you should stay away from this gas station.
A few words about calibration in the laboratory. We resorted to it only in order to obtain a deliberately reliable result. But for assessment checks, calibration is carried out on site, in three minutes. And the device is designed specifically for them - it is not an arbitration one, but an information one.
For dessert - a fly in the ointment: experts can’t live without it. Do not try to make claims on the quality of gasoline based on the evidence of OKTIS. This is not an expert method, therefore neither the court, nor the manufacturer, nor the seller recognize them. Product information is only for you.
